“I couldn’t tell you how deep the water was, I could tell you it was deep enough that you couldn’t feel the bottom and it was the current [that] kept pulling us away from the sea wall,” Police Detective Daniel Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez said one man — presumably the good Samaritan — was able to help himself to safety on a latter. He said he had to hold onto the second person and swim “over to one of the NYPD harbor boats.